Hemp: Think rope not dope

Hemp was once paramount in American agriculture, a hardy and renewable resource for various industrial applications, including cordage, paper and textiles. Today, it's used in a wider variety of products than ever before, including clothing, bio-fuels, plastic composites and construction materials, in addition to health foods and organic body care products.

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By Candace Krebs

LA Junta Tribune - La Junta, CO

By Candace Krebs

Posted Jun. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By Candace Krebs

Posted Jun. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM

COLORADO SPRINGS — "It wears in rather than wears out. The more you wash it, the softer it gets."

That's how Mandy Green describes hemp yarn and why she crochets it into everything from shawls to shoes for her business, Knotty Strings LLC.

"I can't wait until I can buy it in my own country. I want to give my money to my neighbor," she said recently, explaining that most of the hemp yarn she currently uses is made in China and dyed in Canada before arriving in the U.S.

Eric Bussineau has been working with hemp for 15 years, mostly doing macramé, a special knitting technique. His verdict? Hemp is nothing short of the savior for a troubled nation, and he's not just blowing smoke.

"It's one of the strongest fibers known to man," he said while assisting Green during opening day of the Colorado Farm and Art Market. "You can make fuel, clothing?— they've even figured out how to make houses out of it."

Hemp was once paramount in American agriculture, a hardy and renewable resource for various industrial applications, including cordage, paper and textiles, according to the advocacy group, Vote Hemp, which is helping sponsor the fourth annual Hemp History Week through June 7. Today, it's used in a wider variety of products than ever before, including clothing, bio-fuels, plastic composites and construction materials, in addition to health foods and organic body care products.

Hemp seed is considered more nutritious than soybeans, containing more essential fatty acids than any other source and offering a highly digestible form of complete protein.

All told, the Hemp Industries Association pegs the annual hemp market at around $500 million, none of it originating (legally anyway) in the U.S.

Greg Kreger, manager of Mountain Mama Natural Foods, an independent natural foods store with a 33-year history in Colorado Springs, said he doesn't sell a lot of hemp products — primarily some lotions and a protein powder popular with body builders for its amazing muscle rebuilding properties.

Still, he is an obvious fan of hemp for environmental reasons.

"If we could just replace half of our fiber production with hemp, then we'd be saving a lot of acreage space we could devote to food production," he said while stocking produce on a busy Saturday afternoon.

Promoters give the impression that hemp is something of a miracle crop, a description immediately embraced by Sam Frost, a young farmer from Fountain and currently an agricultural student at Colorado State University. He too cites the environmental benefits, pointing to its application as a renewable source of paper products.

"It takes 30 years to grow a tree, but you could have a hemp crop in just one year," Frost said while tending a booth at the Colorado Farm and Art Market.

Page 2 of 2 - He added he could envision Frost Farm growing hemp within the next five years, regardless of whether it becomes part of the federal farm program. "We are pretty independent," he said of the family farm that is also widely known for leadership in conservation. He said hemp is a crop that grows easily, even on marginal land, but that it would require irrigation.

That said, one reason hemp production is being touted is for providing water savings when compared to crops like alfalfa and corn. Advocates claim it is drought tolerant.

Green said her stepfather is a conventional corn and soybean farmer in Illinois. His response when he heard that hemp production might soon be legal once again?